As JaVale McGee sauntered to the bench late in the third quarter Wednesday night, the capacity Oracle Arena crowd of 19,596 roared.

With the Warriors well on their way to a 110-81 rout of Portland in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, the fans made sure a player long known for his bloopers knew he was appreciated. With Kevin Durant sidelined by a strained left calf, McGee helped underscore that Golden State’s success hinges on more than its All-Stars.

The 7-footer needed only seven shots and 13 minutes to finish with 15 points, four blocked shots and five rebounds. His penchant for alley-oop dunks and rundown swats provided a spark on a night when Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the superstars with the endorsement portfolios, shot a combined 13-for-40 from the field.

“A lot of people do talk about the four (All-Stars), but the one thing that’s constant is we get contributions from everybody,” Green said. “It’s the depth we rely on throughout the course of the year, and it showed through tonight.”

As in the regular season, when it parlayed relentless, switch-heavy defense into a 13-game winning streak with Durant out, Golden State shut down driving lanes and nagged shooters. The Trail Blazers shot 33.3 percent from the field, including 7-for-34 from three-point range. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, who combined for 75 points in Game 1, managed just 23. In the third quarter, when the Warriors turned a nine-point halftime lead into a 25-point cushion, Portland mustered only 12 points.

It all added up to one emphatic message for anyone who reckons that the Warriors are four big names, with spare parts thrown in. In a game the Blazers needed, Golden State mined 50 points from its bench. Rookie Patrick McCaw, who logged 23 seconds in Game 1, chipped in nine points and five rebounds in almost 34½ minutes while making the start for Durant.

By the time the Warriors entered the fourth quarter up 83-58, empty seats dotted the lower bowl. The Blazers, who were again without center Jusuf Nurkic (right leg), now face the daunting task of digging out of a 2-0 series hole against the NBA’s top overall seed. It doesn’t help that, after resting Wednesday, Durant, Shaun Livingston (right index finger sprain) and Matt Barnes (right ankle sprain) could be ready for Game 3 in Portland on Saturday.

“We’ve got to have this one,” Lillard said of Game 3. “That’s all we can focus on right now.”

In the season before Steve Kerr was hired in May 2014, Golden State’s second unit was a glaring issue. Over Kerr’s first two seasons at the helm, with Livingston and Andre Iguodala leading the way, the bench has become a source of pride, as evidenced by the team’s “Strength in Numbers” slogan.

On July 4, when Durant signed with the Warriors, the narrative shifted: Instead of focusing on the “Splash Brothers” and their dynamic bench, the chatter revolved around the Big Four of Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green.

Roughly 90 minutes before tip-off Wednesday, after Kerr announced that Durant, Livingston and Barnes were out for Game 2, the coach conceded, “We’ll be pretty thin. We’ll have to find a way.” Few could be faulted for assuming that would involve heaping helpings of Curry, Thompson and Green.

Instead, there McGee was, wowing a capacity Oracle Arena crowd with a personal highlight reel of dunks and blocks. There was Clark, a nemesis against the Blazers all season, scoring 13 points off the bench. There was Sixth Man of the Year candidate Andre Iguodala, corralling 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists. There was David West, freeing up shooters with textbook screens.

“The bench was great,” Kerr said. “We feel like we have a very deep team, and we needed that tonight. We needed every guy, and they came through.”

McGee has become a fan favorite with Golden State. His appeal goes beyond his supreme athleticism and laid-back demeanor. In the playoffs, the high-energy McGee could be a driving force behind an NBA title pursuit.

“It’s a challenge,” Portland head coach Terry Stotts said of defending McGee on the lob. “Obviously, we didn’t cover it the way we wanted to.”